After Jacob Jr died, we can see Susanna living in Meshach's household in Wayne Co. She's the only other Ward there that Orange Co genealogists accept is a sibling of his. None of the others frequently claimed make any real sense in terms of Meshach's origins. Jacob Jr grew up next door to John Ward in Orange Co. His father, Jacob Sr, held land bordering John's land right near the Caswell border. In fact, many of the Wards were known members of a church just over the county line in Caswell, so this is likely the reason that you see Jacob Huggins Jr and Susanna Ward being married in that county. Here you can see Jacob Sr selling a part of his land shortly before his death. Note the line that mentions his neighbor, John Ward, in the middle of the page:
Mostly what I wanted to show here was that not only are Meshach and Susanna closely associated with the John Ward family of Orange Co.--but also Susanna actually married the son of John Ward's next door neighbor!
Jacob's father names his son in his will a few years later. Sadly, though, Jacob and Susanna lost their inherited land in 1818 to a Sheriff's sale, when they failed to pay their taxes.
But what about the Huggins' whereabouts before they moved to Orange Co? If you look online, pretty much all you will see is that Jacob Sr came from Onslow Co NC. And, it's true, there are records of a Jacob Huggins over in that area. However, here's the alternate case that Cluster Theory would present:
Below is a page from the transcribed 1737 Baltimore Co tax list. Notice in the upper part of the left column you will see the name of John Huggins. About 10 lines below him is John Ward Jr's father-in-law, Sutton Sicklemore.
On the prior page, there is Richard Ward showing "At Joseph Wards." Since there is only one poll assessed, we can take this as a clue that Joseph was over taxable age by this time. John Ward is nearby, as are the ancestors of Sutton Ward's wife, the Crabtrees.
If you then look in the very same Parish register back in Baltimore that contains so many Ward birth and wedding records, you will find the following entry:
JACOB HUGGINS, son of John Jr. and Mary, born July 20, 1739.
I don't know volumes about the Onslow NC stuff, but any Huggins descendent might want to consider that there was a Jacob Huggins born in Baltimore near the Wards--and that a Jacob Huggins ended up living next to the descendents of these very same Wards in Orange Co. The age and circumstances of this Jacob Huggins fit quite well.
(Worth considering-- A man named Samuel Taulbee was also a resident of Baltimore Co. His daughter, Ann, married William Huggins on Dec 19, 1754 there. Samuel Taulbee will also move to Orange Co and leave a will in 1791....)
I am a descendant of Jacob Huggins who married Susanna Ward. If you are interested I can e-mail you the information I have on the Huggins line. I am pretty sure we are from Orange Co, NC since I have done the AncestryDNA and have many matches with whom I have Luke Huggins from Onslow or Jones Co, NC as a common ancestor.
ReplyDeleteI am a Huggins descendant with ties to the Hugginses from Onslow, Jones and Wayne Counties, NC. I, too, have done ancestrydotcom's DNA and I'm very interested in corresponding with you to discuss the Huggins family.
DeleteWhat is your name on your ancestry dna test? I am curious if we match. Mine is cpage2001
DeleteSounds great! Please feel free to send anything you'd like. That was our intention in setting up this website--an exchange of information that leads to conclusions closer to the truth.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I should have said a bit more about Jacob. Things to consider:
Tax lists show that Jacob of Orange is clearly in county prior to 1790 and owns 100 acres by that time. His will (written in 1809, proved 1813) shows his wife's name was Mary.
All reports I see of the Jacob from Onslow show that he is the executor of his father's will (Jacob Sr, son of Luke) in 1789. Then he reportedly marries Salomey "Salley" Roberts in Sept, 1790 in Onslow.
I always say, nothing is impossible. Still, it's a 'tough sell' to think that Jacob of Orange went all the way across state to settle his father's estate....and then remained (or returned) for another year to get married there... and then ended up with another wife later on in an undocumented wedding. It's a lot of hurdles to jump over.
While I tend to trust DNA findings, in and of themselves, they are only as good as the 'paper trail' of the people who take them. Few can provide that (usually it's just a matter of having copied and pasted something from Ancestry Trees), and so the resulting conclusions on a number of lines I have seen have tended to be very misleading.
If we put our heads together, I'd love to see if we can come up with something conclusive here. Who knows? There may be new doors that open as well.
(Kevin)
What is your e-mail to send it to?
DeleteWhat was the name of the church the wards were well known members of? Trying to make sense of everything you have laid out and compare to what I have.
ReplyDelete